Installing New Pickups On My J-Bass MIM

Hey,
I just ordered some Seymour Duncan actives for my jazz bass and besides having to modify the bridge wood to fit the pickup, what else will I have to do? A lot of soldering? Am I better of just having it done at a music shop?
-Julian

When I did the SD's in my MIM Jazz I did not have to trim the bridge cavity at all. I only had to remove a small amount of mold flashing off the bottom of the pickup cover with an Exacto. I did, however, have to slightly modify the pickguard cutout for the neck pickup since the screw spacing is a little different. Not a big deal. As far as the soldering, it's not a big deal either and there should be room for the battery. If you are comfortable using a soldering iron and own a decent one, it should be no problem.

I did the soldering when I put in my new Pup's. The soldering will be at a minimum. It wasn't that bad. It got a little messy but I managed to get it to work. If you do a search on the internet you'll find some good websites for soldering, especially the ones on electronic kits. Just practice on something else before you start.

I put a set of DiMarzio Ultra Jazz into my MIM JazzBass. I had to file off some of the wood for the bridge pickup. I also had to work on the pickquard to get the neck pickup to fit in because the pickup cover was shaped a little different. The whole process including waiting for my soldering iron to warm up took about an hour. And it looks great. You can't tell.